Chicago Man Misses Deadline For Packard Plant

DETROIT (WWJ/AP) – Wayne County officials have turned to yet another bidder after a Chicago developer missed a payment deadline in his bid for the crumbling Packard Plant.

Authorities on Friday announced that William Hults failed to make another $100,000 payment on his $2.003 million bid for former Detroit car plant. He had paid $200,000 in nonrefundable deposits but missed deadline extensions — and was given until Friday to pay the rest.

“We’re certainly disappointed that he hasn’t come through with payment but as always, we are prepared for any eventuality we can and we’re prepared to move onto the next bidder,” Szymanski told WWJ’s Kathryn Larson.

Szymanski said the next bidder, Fernando Palazuelo of Peru, owes $405,000 – based on his bid in a tax foreclosure auction. Palazuelo wants to redevelop the site for commercial, residential and entertainment uses.

“Palazuelo is originally from Spain. He moved to Peru and did a great deal of work in restoring Lima, Peru, by taking facilities not quite as big as the Packard Plant but facilities that were old and dilapidated and returning them to productive use,” Szymanski said.

A Texas doctor’s $6 million top bid on the blighted property was thrown out last month after she and her group of investors failed to come up with the cash.

The dilapidated 40-acre plant, located along East Grand Boulevard, was built in 1903 and hasn’t been used for car production since the 1950s. As the years passed, the property increasingly became the target of arsonists, thieves, metal scrappers, urban explorers and graffiti artists.